WOONSOCKET – City officials were joined by state and federal lawmakers last Friday, Sept. 10, to celebrate the opening of a new $56 million water treatment plant that operators say will make Woonsocket’s water among the best in the state.
The plant, located off Jillson Avenue at one of the highest points in the city, began producing water on July 8. After an extensive 30-day test period during which the plant had to meet standards set by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, it declared ready to service the city’s primary water supply.
“This is state-of-the-art. It’s technology,” said Director of Public Works Steven D’Agostino.
Though residents may not immediately notice the difference, D’Agostino said the water flowing through Woonsocket’s pipes is cleaner than it was three months ago. Along with allowing a more efficient process, the new treatment plant removes manganese from the water, a trace mineral that can pose health risks in high amounts. It also recycles more water, recapturing about 5 percent of all discharge from the filtering process to return to the system as clean water.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the old system and the new, however, is what happens to the contaminants removed from the water. For more than a decade, the Manville Road plant was in violation of RIDEM standards due to the fact it dumped discharge from the cleaning process directly into the Blackstone River. With the new plant, operators explained, the discharge...
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